Local area networks (LAN's) and wide area networks (WAN's) are typically comprised of many interconnected network devices, such as printers and/or other peripherals. It is useful to continuously monitor the status of the network devices in order to ensure the network devices are functioning as desired. During monitoring of printers, information pertaining to the operational status of the printers is provided by each printer to a host computer in the network, typically upon periodic or scheduled prompting or query by the host computer. The operational status information can comprise information such as printer name, MAC address and/or an identifying serial number, low toner indicator status, and offline indicator status, current page count, etc.
To carry out the monitoring, prompting for operational information, and overall operational coordination of the printers, monitoring software is installed on the host computer. In general, the monitoring software performs these functions by: i) discovering printers; ii) monitoring the printers; iii) uploading collected information to an external collector; iv) reporting collected information; and v) permitting viewing of collected information.
During discovery, under control of the monitoring software, the host computer searches a preconfigured list of TCP/IP addresses for printers capable of making a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) connection or Line Printer Daemon (LPD) connection. The host computer then attempts to extract data from each printer via known SNMP OID (“object identifier”) data requests (e.g. HP, LINKSYS, IEEE, DLINK, etc) to establish a method by which subsequent extraction of information from the printers is to be performed. With the extraction method established, a series of device parameters is then extracted from the printer according to the method, the exact parameters depending on the type of print server embedded in the printer (e.g. print engine manufacturer, serial number, device supplies such as toner level or remaining paper count, and counters/meters for the printer). Where the needed data cannot be provided using SNMP extraction, the monitoring software interrogates the printer device over TCP/IP (“Transmission Control Protocol” and the “Internet Protocol”) using HTTP (“Hypertext Transfer Protocol”). The scope of the data attainable by this second method is typically more limited, but can include printer serial number, counters/meters, and device supplies, such as toner level and remaining paper count. In the event that both the SNMP and HTTP methods fail to provide the requested data, a Printer Job Language (PJL) interrogation protocol over TCP/IP may be employed.
During monitoring, the host computer interrogates the monitored printers on a regular/scheduled interval to update stored parameters and to check for status and/or supplies changes. Device status changes may also initiate an interrogation when SNMP traps (i.e. notification sent by the monitored device to the monitoring device without being prompted) are employed. Printer state changes (e.g. up, down, idle, printing, warning, etc.) and toner cartridge levels are monitored in order to provide notifications where desired, and historical data is gathered over time and used to determine if the cartridge has been changed or if an operator has manipulated the cartridge to extend the toner life on an existing cartridge. The host computer also detects and logs printer exchanges at a monitored IP address, and can track a printer continuously even if it is moved to a different IP address. Print, copy, scan and fax volumes undertaken by a printer are calculated by tracking meters/page counts over a period of time. The host computer e-mails alerts in the event of a change in printer status, if it is unable to contact the printer via TCP/IP, if supplies level drops below a specified level, and for other events.
During uploading to an external data collector, data captured during the discovery phase and updated during the monitoring phase is encoded into a proprietary encrypted format and transferred using HTTP/HTTPS over TCP/IP to an external server-based data collector.
During reporting, data from the internal data storage may be aggregated and reformatted into a variety of viewing formats, such as a comma-separated value (CSV) format or an Extensible Markup Language (XML) format. A user may view the aggregated data using an HTML display on the data collector's internal web server or via a web server in the bundle.
While the above process is effective, the use of a separate host computer on which the monitoring software is run introduces an extra level of complexity to administration of the network. For example, the end user of one or more printers in a network, for example a company or corporation, bears the responsibility of installing and maintaining updates for the monitoring software on a designated and networked host computer. The cost of the host computer adds significantly to the overall cost of the network, and yet it is possible that the host computer could be disconnected from the network or otherwise fail to provide the desired monitoring services at one time or another. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a simplified monitoring system and method that does not rely on a host computer.